Resolution on the TechHire Initiative

Whereas, the American economic recovery is continuing under the leadership of President Obama; and

Whereas, despite the ongoing recovery, too many American workers continue to face the problems of underemployment below their skill, learning, and earning capacity; and

Whereas, many American businesses face the mirror-image problem of having available jobs which they are having difficulty filling with applicants meeting their technical qualifications, helping to produce an estimated 5 million open jobs in the economy today; and

Whereas, the President has proposed an innovative initiative to help match job-seekers, open high-quality jobs, and the needed training or credentialing to acquire those good jobs; and

Whereas, forward-thinking cities and towns are already playing a role in the needed actions to expand access to good tech jobs, and can play an even bigger role,

Therefore be it resolved that Democratic Municipal Officials (DMO) hereby commends and supports the President’s TechHire Initiative; and further that

DMO commends those forward-looking Democrat-led cities like Louisville, Philadelphia, Salt Lake City, Memphis, Los Angeles, and others who are already taking action in this area; and further that

DMO encourages its members across the U.S. to study the TechHire concept and initiate similar local efforts to expand its success, such as the following:

--Working with local employers to build an information base of local tech skill and applicant needs, and commitments to enable non-traditional hiring of applicants with the existing skills or abilities who need final training or credentialing to qualify; and

--Working with local employers, educational institutions, and training organizations to expand rapid training programs for tech-oriented jobs, such as coding bootcamps and innovative online training, which allow interested students to gain the needed training in months, not years; and

--Building partnerships with local employers, educators, and community organizations to connect people to jobs with hiring “on ramp” programs and non-traditional efforts such as tech meet-ups and startup co-working spaces.